


Classy Nudes Are Painted

by totallycheesey



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Artist AU, College AU, Eventual Smut, Fluff, M/M, Romance, Slash, Smut, Student AU, Yaoi, joelay - Freeform, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-21
Updated: 2014-09-21
Packaged: 2018-02-18 07:24:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2340005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/totallycheesey/pseuds/totallycheesey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So what if Ray had to paint a nude to save his grade? So what if he trusted Michael to find him someone to paint? So what if it ended up being a superbly-hot college boy named Joel? So what?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Classy Nudes Are Painted

                “But... How can my grade be so low? This is a _freaking_ art class!” The word that Ray had actually wanted to use had been “fuck,” but, then again, speaking to his teacher with a tone was already getting him into more trouble. It was better to not add insult to injury.

                The older woman, around her fifties, stated, “A sixty is the highest I’ll be willing to give you for this quarter. As you may recall, you skipped the semester exam-”

                Ray interjected, “How was I supposed to know that there was a test?! Art classes are electives!”

                “An elective it may be, but it still has a grade attached to it.”

                Fingers tightening into balls that gripped at his pant legs, Ray bit down his swears and instead asked, “Well, how do you think I can get my grade up? Isn’t there, like, extra credit or something I can do?”

                Mrs. Jane smiled sadly. “There’s only one thing I can think of for you to do, and I’m afraid you won’t like it. It would only mean ten more points.”

                A “C” rather than a “D.” Well… It was better than nothing…

                Feeling a bit more hopeful, Ray stated, “Whatever it takes. You name it, I’ll do it.”

                She nodded. “What I was thinking is that you could do a project on human anatomy, since that seems to be the area where you’re struggling most, in terms of both sketching and painting. And… Well…” Mrs. Jane chewed her lip.

                “What?” So far, the extra credit didn’t sound too difficult. And any chance to keep his parents from flipping their shit over their grades, Ray would have to take. He had already been kicked out of the house once over schoolwork and now that he was in senior year, there was no telling what they would do to him.

                The old woman answered, “It has to be a painting of a live nude, with included sketches.”

                Ray felt his blood curdle. “Wh-what?”

                “A nude. It’s the best way to learn anatomy.” Mrs. Jane looked serious, and no doubt her judgment was correct, but Ray couldn’t imagine what kind of girl would allow him to stare at her naked body for countless hours after school. Was this even legal in his state? There was no doubt that high school nude sessions were allowed in crazy-ass places like Florida, but _here_?

                His teacher was staring at him, probably because he had remained silent for a moment to lose his shit in his own head, so he quickly asked, “Will you be assigning a, uh, model to me? And where am I going to work?”

                Mrs. Jane shook her head. “You must find someone willing to participate yourself. Feel free to use the classroom and its materials after school, though you have to be out by seven so the custodian can lock up. Also, on Wednesdays the Green Club uses the room for meetings, so unless you feel like painting for a crowd, I suggest you keep out on Wednesdays. I will inform you if there are any schedule changes.” She picked up a stack of folders off the corner of her desk and clacked on her low heels to the door, only looking back at Ray to advise, “Have the project done in two weeks, or I’m afraid I won’t be able to submit your grade.” He could hear her clacking down the hall as she left his view.

                Ray didn’t realize that his mouth had been wide open until he swallowed to feel the dryness of his throat. He didn’t have much of a choice in this matter… And, with only two weeks left to work… He gathered his things from his desk and left the classroom, shutting the door behind him. What the absolute _fuck_ had he agreed to?

 

 

                “So… Let me get this straight; you’re lookin’ for a chick to pose naked for you in the art room for the next two weeks?” Michael was hardly holding in tears, let alone the laughter that was coming out in barrages from his agape mouth as he leaned back against his rusty red pickup truck. It sucked that Ray had to ride around with Michael all the time just because he had never gotten his driver’s license, but, at least, it gave him good connections and someone interesting to talk to. However, Ray had just left the school and the disastrous assignment that had been given to him after school and needed to blab to Michael, who was apparently finding everything just _hilarious._

                Displeased by Michael’s reaction, Ray answered impatiently, “Yes, but I don’t know where the fuck I’m gonna find one. And that’s why I came to you, ‘cause, you know, you have connections and stuff.”

                “Dude,” Michael spoke while opening the passenger door for Ray, “you only came to me ‘cause you have to ride in my fuckin’ truck.”

                “Whatever. But, seriously. Can you get a girl or not?” Ray pushed his backpack into the truck’s floorboard before stepping in himself, sitting down and slamming the door shut.

                “I can ask Gavin to pose for you. I’m sure he’d be _thrilled_ at the attention.”

                He could feel his jaw tightening. “Can you get a girl or not?”

                Michael snorted as he slid into the driver’ seat. “I can get you better than that; I can get you a _college_ chick. I swear to God, Ray, if you don’t get laid because of this assignment…”

                Ray shook his head quickly. “I’m not worried about who it is, I just need to get a good grade… Do you think you can get ahold of someone over the weekend and get them to meet me in the art room after school on Monday?”

                “Of course. I’m willing to pull strings for a nerd like you.” Michael guffawed as Ray groaned. Even though they were undeniably good friends, Michael still knew how to push Ray’s buttons.

 

 

                The weekend passed in an ordinary blur of refusing alcohol from his friends and meeting up at the local arcade to try to top each other’s scores, which usually ended in his favor. He was pretty wicked with a joystick. However, when all was said and done, Ray was left with a sick feeling in his gut that told him that Monday, after school, something bad would happen.

                Ray called Michael’s house Sunday night at eleven thirty to make sure that Michael had found someone, because his grade was depending on his ability to trust Michael and he was beginning to have second thoughts about the entire ordeal.

Michael just laughed and hung up.

All the next day, Ray could feel his skin crawling with nerve for the meeting at the art room that would happen after school. He hardly paid any attention to his classes, which wasn’t much different from how he normally behaved in class, but still. The sick feeling in the pit of his stomach wasn’t wearing off.

It wasn’t until he was standing in front of the art room door that he felt a sense of calm wash over him. It couldn’t be that bad, right? Either no one would show up, or he would find himself alone with a sexy girl that _wanted_ to be naked around him. With that thought in mind, Ray pushed the door open. The lights in the classroom were already turned on… There was a person sitting on top of the front desk furthest away from the door, and that person wasn’t a girl.

The man looked up at Ray and waved.

Ray’s entire being shuddered to a stop. The man who looked like he was a college student was on top of the desk, fully clothed with a large sweatshirt and a baggy set of jeans. His hair was a rough tumble that seemed to be the product of worry and never stopping to fix it, though Ray couldn’t find it in him to think that he didn’t like the hair. The man’s slight smile pulled at his entire lower face, eyes searching over Ray.

Coughing, Ray asked, “Not to be rude, but who exactly are you?”

“Joel Heyman, taking college courses to major in theater. Here to pose for your nudes for the next couple of weeks.” Joel stood from his seat on the desk and asked, “So… Should I strip now or-”

“Did Michael Jones send you here?” Ray interrupted, his face darkening.

The man, _Joel_ , nodded. “I owe him, so here I am. A fair trade, I think.” Then, he cocked his head and walked closer to Ray, three or so feet between them now. “Why are you blushing?”

Why _wouldn’t_ he be blushing? Michael, someone he thought he could trust, had played the ultimate prank on him. And the thing was, he couldn’t do shit about it. Honestly, he didn’t want to. It would be too much trouble to bitch and complain about his situation enough for Michael to relent and find him some poor girl to paint. He only had days as it was…

And the way that Joel was looking over Ray with concern probably didn’t help, either.

“Nothing,” Ray replied with a fake smile. He dropped his backpack onto the desk nearest to him and pulled out his sketch book, along with two pencils. He spoke as he flipped to the correct page and maneuvered around the desk to sit down, “You don’t have to, uh, take off your clothes yet. Today, all I want to do is get a few sketches having to do with your height and body type. It’ll help for later.”

Joel nodded. “How do you want me to stand?”

Ray directed Joel into the correct positions that he wanted him to stand in as he sketched quickly onto his paper, getting a feel for how it was going to be to paint Joel. He was tall… Very, very tall. A little over six feet, if Ray had to guess, which was towering over his own barely 5’8” height. Joel had sharp features and rounded shoulders, a tendency to lean to the left more than to the right, and a way of looking at people through his soft-lined eyelashes that made Ray feel… Strange, to say the least.

Time passed quickly, even though they remained silent other than Ray’s directions for Joel. Honestly, Ray wanted to talk to Joel as much as he wanted to talk to any other person, but for some reason, he couldn’t find the words to say. It was a strange sort of fear that made Ray feel bubbly, as though he were asking Joel out rather than telling him to stand up straighter or lean slightly to the right.

It was nearing 6:30 when Ray made Joel sit on the floor for his final position, scrambling to finish the sketch as time rolled forward. He was done by 6:53, and though the last sketch was far from his best, it was fucking amazing to have been drawn in a rush.

“That’ll be good for today,” Ray called as he began stuffing his things back into the open maw of his backpack, Joel standing and brushing himself off from the floor. As Ray tried shoving his sketchbook into his backpack, a sheet tore off and floated to the floor, closer to Joel than to Ray.

Groaning, Ray stretched out in his seat to try to use his feet to snatch the paper back, but Joel had already bent over and grabbed the sheet. Ray watched as Joel’s eyes shifted over the paper, as though he were reading a book, then strode to Ray, pushing the paper back onto his desk.

“This is good. This is really, really good,” Joel commented as Ray looked over his sketch from earlier in the month. He had been absentmindedly doodling and wound up drawing out a sick, crazed, hyper-realistic version of Bowser as a pixelated Mario scrambled out of the corner of the page. Ray had always liked Bowser better, anyways.

Ray pulled the paper into his bag. “Uh… Thanks, I guess.” Their finger didn’t quite touch when he took the paper back, but Ray still felt a shock of nerves shoot down his body when their hands came close. His cheeks lit up once more. What the fuck was wrong with him..?

Joel grinned, noting Ray’s obvious embarrassment. “You ever drawn yourself before?”

Shaking his head, Ray answered, “I don’t feel like it’s my place. It would make me feel self-absorbed and all that shit.” He zipped up his bag and stood from the desk, to meet Joel standing very, _very_ close to him. His cheeks were on fire.

“You should,” Joel said, a little quieter as they seemed to come closer together. Ray could feel Joel breathing. “You’re pretty enough to make it work.”

Joel left the room before Ray could formulate a coherent response.

 

 

                Ray was exhausted the next day because he couldn’t sleep the night before. Even though he was reluctant to admit it, the cause stemmed from Joel. Joel, who would be completely naked today unless Ray could come up with a good excuse to keep doing simple sketches. Still, Ray had a grade to complete in a short amount of time…

                Oh well. All that Ray knew was that he didn’t know if he could handle seeing Joel naked so soon after meeting him, much less after all of his thinking the night before. He thought about how Joel had called him “pretty.” He thought about how relaxed Joel had been about hanging around Ray, even though they were quiet for the most part. He thought about things to say to Joel the next day. He thought about how hard he had blushed the entire time he was drawing.

                Before Ray knew it, he was already opening the door to the art room. There was Joel, though this time, rather than sitting at a desk, he was leaning against the wall parallel to the desks, where Mrs. Jane would normally give lectures and pin up ideas for assignments. Ray forced his breathing to slow down and carefully strode to a desk in the front row, dumping his backpack onto it as he had the day before.

                “Hey,” Joel greeted, arms crossed casually.

                “Hey,” Ray said back as he walked to the set of cabinets lining the wall beside the desks, pulling out various materials for painting, such as a foldable aisle, a large, thick piece of paper that would be used in the place of canvas, a set of oil paints, an assortment of paintbrushes (most of which were tiny), a paper plate for the paint, and one small, grey pencil. He set up his work station in front of his desk, the aisle directly in front of the desk so that he could sit on the desk while he painted. The grey pencil found his fingers. Looking directly up at Joel, he stated, “Today, I want to work on your upper body. So…”

                Joel grinned cheekily. “So I need to lose the sweatshirt and shirt. Let’s just say that you don’t have to tell me twice.” Immediately, Joel’s fingers searched behind his neck to find the back of his sweatshirt, pulling it off slowly. The hem of his shirt crawled up his stomach as he did so, and Ray found it hard not to stare as Joel tugged at the shirt too, finally ending up with a bare chest and even wilder hair. Joel’s eyes met Ray’s and he asked, “Is this good?”

                Ray could only nod as Joel situated himself, rolling his shoulders forward and messing with his hair. While Joel’s sweatshirt had left no sense of how Joel appeared beneath his clothes, his chest told a different story. His skin was pale, but not pale to the sense of resembling a vampire. There was definitely a fine build of muscle looming beneath Joel’s skin; not up front in the way that a body builder’s body would look, but instead composed of subtle lines and curves of tight tendons and coils. There was a soft six-pack and his arms only hinted at what they looked like when tense. Ray found himself pulling together his aisle and other materials once more if only to offer a distraction from the line of Joel’s waistband, advertising Calvin Klein almost as well as a hired model.

                But, there was only so much time that Ray could dedicate to setting up his sketches for reference until he had to speak to Joel again. He asked, “What pose would you be comfortable doing for long periods of time?”

                Shrugging, Joel asked, “What d’you feel like painting?”

                “Just… Sit down.” If he could help it, Ray would make it as easy for Joel to pose as possible.

                “Like this?”

                “Move a little to the left… Perfect!”

                As Ray used his grey pencil to draw a basic outline of Joel’s body on the large piece of paper, he realized that as soon as Joel was actually naked, his junk would be the complete center of attention for the painting. The position that he put Joel in was sitting, his legs folded beneath his body sloppily so that he look as though he were listening to a story. And, as time would prove, Ray would be painting Joel’s dick right… There. His pencil paused on the danger zone, then he put it away. He had enough of an outline to begin painting.

                When he started mixing the delicate color that would be Joel’s skin, Joel asked, “So, how long have you been doing art stuff?”

                Ray shrugged, testing out the skin color on his own wrist to see if it seemed natural for a skin tone. “When I was a kid, I did a bunch of drawings of movie and video game characters. My mom signed me up for art classes when I was nine and I guess it just caught on.” Dissatisfied by the artificial darkness of the color he had created, Ray added a splotch of white to the mix to add onto the milky quality of Joel’s complexion. “What about your acting?”

                “Something I picked up by doing impressions in school. The only reason I decided to get serious about it was so I could go into an interesting job. You know, keep out of the cubicle life with the crashing economy and whatnot.” Joel spoke without moving his head to keep in position, though he was facing Ray directly anyways, eyes never wavering even as Ray was forced to break eye contact to work on the painting.

                The color on Ray’s wrist was finally sufficient. Ray lathered it onto the paper carefully, covering the entirety of Joel’s outline with it. Other features were only to be added over the skin. “You’re pretty blunt. I bet you and Michael get along pretty well.” Ray tried to imagine a situation that would call for Joel and Michael to meet and couldn’t think of anything other than seeing each other at a bar.

                “Eh, we get by. It’s more of deals and bets that keep us hanging around each other than actual personal relation. That and the fact that my idiot friend Burnie keeps offering him jobs and stuff… Not to say that Michael’s a bad person,” Joel quickly covered, “but we’re far off from being close.”

                Ray laughed. “First of all, Michael _is_ a bad person. And second…” He wracked his mind for ideas as to complete his statement before shrugging it off. “Well, I guess there isn’t really a second.”

                As much as Joel was trying to stay frozen for Ray to paint, he had to smile at that. “Isn’t that called a one-night stand?”

                “What would _you_ know about one-night stands?” Ray fired back playfully, splotching together another shade to use for the lines of Joel’s facial features and abdomen.

                Joel’s grin curled into a more wolfish expression. “I’m sure I know more than you do. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that you’re a virgin. It would explain why you blush so much.”

                At Joel’s words, Joel could feel his face light up. “Am not!” Yes, he was, and he shouldn’t have denied it because it was doing wonders to the feelings that his body evoked when he met Joel’s eyes again, smiling at the edges.

                “You are! You _so_ are!” Joel was pointing at Ray and shaking in laughter at the embarrassment of the younger boy.

                “Shut up,” Ray hissed as the redness of his face grew in intensity, “and get back in position.”

                It wasn’t until the end of their session that Joel spoke again, apart from the dubious giggles he suppressed while Ray glowered at him. “It’s okay to be a virgin,” Joel said as he stretched, standing from his place on the floor.

                Ray sighed. “Please, just shut the fuck up. I wish that it was like yesterday, when we didn’t talk at all. At least then, I didn’t realize what a complete and utter asshole you are.” Truth be told, Ray absolutely loved how he and Joel talked together, even if he had only known Joel for a total of two days. It left a warm tingle across his fingertips, the kind that he usually only got after knowing that he had drawn something worthwhile.

                Ignoring Ray, Joel continued, “I mean, it just makes it sexier for whoever lays you first. You could just mention it in passing and-”

                “Joel,” Ray asked, “do you think I’m gay?” He meant it as a normal question, though the heaviness of the topic came crashing down on him as soon as the words left his lips.

                Raising an eyebrow, Joel asked, “What if I said yes?”

                “Well,” Ray said as he pushed the aisle with his painting still on it over to the corner of the art room, to leave it to dry until the next day, “I would say that you need evidence.”

                He didn’t realize what a horrible mistake he had made until Joel was in front of him, close enough that Ray felt the heat radiating from Joel’s still-bare chest. He could feel his lungs burning, but Ray couldn’t breathe; one small movement like the expansion of his lungs, and they would be _touching_.

                Joel casually put his hand to the wall beside Ray, closing in on him like predator and prey. His other hand met the wall on the other side of Ray’s head, and Ray was suddenly thankful that his painting was a good four feet away from their showdown. He was pinned, unable to move unless he wanted to be touching Joel’s naked top half, and fuck if Ray didn’t want to reach over and stroke that smooth skin that he had imitated in paint, but he couldn’t because suddenly it was a battle of how much he could _not_ do rather than the things he wanted to do…

                His breath hitched as Joel leaned in closer, bending down to be even with Ray’s height. Joel’s hair was touching his forehead, soft and prickly and just there in a way that was nice, and his eyes were intense in ways that Ray could not hope to capture in his art form. It was surreal; Ray’s head was swimming, they were maybe two inches away (and that was being generous), and he had to be dreaming because shit like this didn’t happen in real life, definitely not in high school classrooms.

                Snickering, Joel pulled away. “I make you nervous.” His hands slid down the wall before he walked to the front of the classroom to grab his shirt and sweatshirt. He was smiling as he pulled them over his head, covering the smooth skin that had just been so close. He went to the door, turned the knob, and winked at Ray as he left.

                Again, Joel (literally) left Ray speechless.

 

 

                It was only when Ray had entered the art room the next day that he remembered Mrs. Jane’s warning about Wednesdays. “Shit,” he mumbled as he quickly backed away from the club meeting that he had intruded upon, followed by the giggles of asshats that had nothing better to laugh at.

                Well, this was great. Michael was probably already gone, which left him without a ride, and the majority of other students that he knew were either distant or otherwise the type that he didn’t trust to call favors from. He sulked, leaving through the back doors of the school to go to the parking lot. He had a good six miles or so between him and his house…

                “Hey, pretty thing,” a familiar voice cooed from behind him. Ray turned to see Joel leaning against the brick of the outer walls of the school, similarly to how he had found Joel in the art room on Tuesday. “Did you forget to warn me about the green freaks, or did you think it would be funny for me to start taking my clothes off in front of an audience?”

                Ray smiled. “Afraid not…  I forgot completely and walked in while they were talking about recycling or whatever. So, sorry about not warning you.”

                Joel shrugged and said, “Whatever. You don’t happen to have a ride already, do you?”

                “No…”Ray’s eyes were wide with hope that Joel was suggesting what he thought he was suggesting rather than just asking.

                Laughing, Joel said, “Easy on the puppy dog eyes. There’s only so much cute that I can handle before I start kissin’ on you and stuff.” He reached over and ruffled Ray’s hair, the movement causing his glasses to slide forward a bit. “You’re getting better at controlling your blush, I see.”

                Cheekily, Ray replied, “Thanks for noticing me, senpai.” In truth, it had taken Ray some practice in his mirror the night before to get his blush under control. Obviously, he still hadn’t mastered it, but at least he had prevented himself from turning red at the mere thought of Joel’s naked chest, or even the sound of his voice. It was all a work in progress.

                Joel’s smile grew wider. “It’s a shame… You were so _hot_ when you blushed.” Ray could feel Joel’s eyes searching his body as he spoke, waiting for the slightest sign of embarrassment to pounce.

                “I upgraded from being cute to being hot? Awesome!” He wasn’t giving Joel the satisfaction… At least, not today. It had been enough to get laughed at by the Green Club. Anyways, he couldn’t let Joel win every time.

                Cocking his head, Joel said, “You really think you’re something, don’t you.” The bit of neck that Ray could see poking out from beneath his sweatshirt was enough to make Ray swallow.

                “Hey, you’re the one that called me hot.”

                Joel rolled his eyes and deadpanned, “Look, do you need a ride or not?”

                Frowning, Ray stated, “You don’t have to do this for me.” It had been hard enough for him to let Michael take him places, but what with him not having a license and Michael living in the same neighborhood, he had been able to figure that he wasn’t troubling Michael much, save for the occasional request for milkshakes. But, with Joel still being so new and interesting and completely the type of person that Ray wouldn’t want to burden, it was hard for him to accept such kindness easily.

                “Shut the fuck up and follow me to my car.” Joel apparently wasn’t taking prisoners, so Ray followed him obediently to the car that was a couple of rows away, a generic cool blue Nissan that was dented on the passenger’s side but otherwise in good condition. The seats were soft and fuzzy, a welcome change from the ragged leather of Michael’s truck.

                Ray pulled on his seatbelt and asked, “Where exactly are we going?”

                Grinning curtly, Joel answered, “Wouldn’t you like to know.” He started up the car and sped out of the parking lot, much faster than Ray suspected was legal for such an easy-going zone.

                “Well,” Ray tried again, “don’t you need to know where I live?”

                Joel shook his head and buckled his own seatbelt as they rounded the corner to exit the student parking area, a place where Ray suddenly realized that Joel probably shouldn’t have been parking in to begin with. “I’m not taking you home yet. First, we’re gonna have a little fun.”

                “Do you always talk like you’re starring in a bad porno?” Ray chastised.

                Ignoring Ray completely, Joel turned onto the pavement of the real road and stopped at the intersection. “I have a question for you.”

                Even though it was probably a very, very bad idea, Ray bought into Joel’s act. “What?”

                “When will all this sexual tension come crashing down on us to the point where we inevitably fuck or never speak again?” For once, Joel’s trademark grin was gone. Ray was delighted to see that his cheeks were even a little red, the tips of his ears burning.

                Shrugging, Ray said, “Who knows? I’m just glad to be along for the ride.” Did either of them even hear what was coming out of their mouths at this point?

                Joel grinned sharply. “That’s _exactly_ the kind of thing I need in a man.” He swerved onto the road to the right not a second after their lane’s light flashed green, pulling into the drive-thru of what appeared to be a small hut. They went directly to the window where people usually exchanged cash for their orders, since there was not order machine.

A woman with an artificially red pony tail slid the window open and asked, “What can I getcha?”

“One vanilla and one…” Joel stared hard at Ray for a moment, and Ray had to breathe deeply to keep his blushing habit at bay. Joel turned back to the woman. “Strawberry.” She called for money and Joel forked over a ten, stating that the remainder was for tip. The woman passed over two waffle cones full of sweet-smelling ice cream and a couple of napkins. Joel thanked her and passed the strawberry cone to Ray as he drove out.

Ray said, “Uh, thanks… But how did you know that I like strawberry?” He licked at the pinkish mound, delighted to find that it tasted delicious.

“I didn’t.” Joel was steering with one hand, the other holding up his vanilla ice cream up so that he could eat as he drove.

Not needing further explanation, Ray licked his ice cream with more fervor, finding that the soft texture of the sweet made it all the more pleasurable to consume. He bit off a chunk of waffle cone, noting that it was still warm from the press. God, it tasted amazing.

He could feel Joel’s eyes on him, roving over where Ray’s tongue dipped into the cone to curl around a chunk of ice cream and swallow. It was hard not to smile as he continued eating, though he took a more deliberate tone with his movements. His licks were slow and teasing, the nips he took from the waffle cone meant to be tempting.

His eyes met Joel’s. Joel’s mouth was open, his vanilla cone dripping white melted ice cream down his hand and onto his leg below. There was a faint blush tickling his pale cheeks, and Ray took triumph in the fact that he had managed to catch Joel blushing twice in the same day.

Ray licked his lips, grin stretching slowly over his face. He leaned closer to Joel and whispered, “Eyes on the road, Joel.”

 

 

                Hurrying to the art room on Thursday, Ray almost didn’t notice the pencil lying on the ground in front of the door. By the time he had, it was useless; he had already stepped on it, his body was already falling, and his arms were reaching out to catch himself even though he knew it was pointless. His face smashed into the dirty linoleum and he only had time to thank himself for shutting his mouth so he wouldn’t have to taste the variety of bacteria crawling down the school halls before his nose prickled with pain.

                “ _Fuck_ ,” he groaned, standing back up as his backpack slipped off his shoulder and crashed to the ground with a thump. He rubbed his nose with the back of his wrist, feeling irritated when his arm came away with splotches of blood. “God fucking dammit.”

                Well, he couldn’t expect much out of the day, seeing the way it started.

                Michael picked Ray up, as usual. They were driving along quietly, the early morning deafening the city until the sun was fully awake. It was silent apart from the radio mumbling football statistics and Michael slapping around the dial until he settled for a station that played older music. Ray thought that he had escaped the confrontation for yet another day as Michael parked the truck in his usual parking spot under the shade of the school’s bleached oak. That is, until Michael out of the ignition and locked the doors.

                They stared at each other for a moment, not speaking. Then, Michael said, “So… How’d you like the ‘surprise’?”

                “More than you’d expect,” Ray responded stiffly. His hand slowly curled around the door handle, even though he had heard it click when Michael locked it. “We’re getting along pretty well. I’m sure you’d like the guy.”

                Michael’s eyes narrowed. “And the naked part?”

                Okay, so Ray had been expecting this talk for some time. Honestly, he had been wondering when Michael would come around to quiz him on the prank and find out pointers for the next time he waylaid some other poor kid. Still, this didn’t mean that he wasn’t completely unprepared for this conversation.

                He knew he couldn’t lie. “We haven’t gotten to that part yet.”

                “And you’re putting it off... Why?” Ray only glared at Michael until he sighed and said, “Fine. Be that way.” Ray’s door unlocked and he yanked the door open, snatching his backpack before shutting the door and leaving for class. Michael hadn’t said anything unexpected, yet Ray still felt a sense of anger and confusion. Maybe it was just the fact that they were talking about Joel.

                He had left it that way in his mind all day through school, until he busted his face on the nasty-ass school floors.

                Ray sniffled and put his arm down, grabbing his backpack to enter the classroom. As he stepped forward, he heard a crunch and looked down to find that the pencil that had caused him so much grief in the first place was now in two pieces. With that little spurt of satisfaction in mind, Ray walked into the art room and saw Joel against the wall, which was becoming somewhat of a trademark of his.

                The first thing that came out of Joel’s mouth was, “What’s wrong with your face?”

                Ray’s shoulders slumped as he set his backpack on a desk. “You know, just my usual clumsiness. My dumb ass tripped on a goddamn pencil.” Joel was still staring at him with a semi-shocked expression. “Is it really that bad?”

                Without a word, Joel strode to the sink and grabbed a paper towel, wetting it in the water. He turned off the faucet and gestured for Ray to come over. When Ray was close, Joel gently pressed the damp paper towel to Ray’s nose, soaking up the excess blood.

                It was a tender moment, so of course Ray blushed. Joel didn’t comment.

                Ray scraped by without having to see Joel’s junk with the excuse that there was “still a lot to work with on top.” For the majority of the time, Ray did work on smoothing out the contours he had created in Joel’s form to match the real thing and blended the black lines with the skin to create a more substantial existence on the paper before him. Even so, he finished fifteen minutes early and resolved to mime painting as Joel posed. It gave him time to study Joel and his brilliantly soft-looking skin.

                He needed a better excuse next time. Maybe he could convince Joel to just go down to his underwear.

                They departed with the usual banter, though neither mentioned the nosebleed incident. Ray was beginning to feel like his normal self until he realized where he was headed. There was the oak, and, of course, there was the truck underneath. Without fail, Michael was there.

                This time, when Ray was fully seated and buckled in appropriately, he started, “Why haven’t you asked me about the whole painting thing before today?”

                “Well…” Michael turned off the radio and started up the car. “I really thought you’d chew me on Monday. I thought you’d be all like, ‘Michael, why the fuck did you do this,’ and just nag me while I laughed of whatever. Instead, I got zero reaction. Zip.” They were out of the parking lot and turning onto the road. “So then I thought, maybe Ray’s idiot ass was actually enjoying this. Maybe this tickled his fancy or whatever the fuck Gavin says. And, it kind of confirmed my theory when you came back so pleased on Tuesday. It was like you weren’t even there.” Michael gave Ray a sideways look. “You know I don’t care if you’re gay, right?”

                That was the first time he had heard Michael say that word. Ray swallowed and said, “Yeah. I guess.”

                “That’s it? You _guess_?” Michael’s grip tightened on the steering wheel. “Ray, I didn’t organize an entire prank to get an ‘I guess’.”

                Ray sighed. “Fine. I like him, okay?” He expected to feel something running through him, like tingles of excitement or something mildly anxious. Instead, the only thing he felt was like he was speaking something that was waiting to be said.

                Nodding, Michael stated, “So, to recap, I pranked you by getting a guy for you to paint nude rather than a girl, and instead, you fell in love with him.”

                “I guess,” Ray replied, feeling a bit hollow and not fully present.

                “I guess,” Michael repeated.

 

 

                _The nails of Ray’s fingers were scraping against the wall behind him… He could hear the scratching in his ears, background noise to the softened sound of Joel’s breathing. The older boy was taking his dear time in pushing his hands up against Ray’s chest, beneath his shirt. Ray’s heart was stirring beneath Joel’s touch._

_“I…” Ray didn’t even know what he was trying to say._

_Joel knew better, drawing his hands away from Ray’s skin and instead using them to cradle Ray’s head, thumb brushing his hair away from his eyes. “Hmm…” Joel hummed, the seemingly permanent smile on his face giving way to pursed lips, eyes halved by closing eyelids. Their lips were touching, Ray’s eyes were still open, Joel was still giving, and his hands were now wandering down to Ray’s pants._

_The scratching in his ears stopped suddenly when Joel’s hand curled around his thigh, soft and squeezing and something that Ray didn’t realize could feel so great. The other hand dipped beneath Ray’s waistband, and he had to force himself to hold his breath as it looped around the waistband to his boxers… He could feel the fingers on_ him _now, grasping and slowly stroking in contemplation._

_“Joel…” Ray whispered, feeling the callouses of the theater major play against his cock, rolling back and forth in rhythm that was changing all the time, because Joel could be counted on only to be unpredictable, a force that wasn’t used to the softness of beings like Ray. The fingers rolled, and Ray could only buck upwards feebly as he-_

Ray gasped, sitting straight up in his bed in the pitch black of night. He could still feel the hands on his body, pulling him towards pleasure that he hadn’t expected to manifest in his mind, no matter how much he liked Joel. A wet dream? Well, this was a new one.

Sighing, he yanked his sheets aside to check his boxers and, sure enough, he was as hard as he had ever been. This was great. Just fucking wonderful.

It took only a few moments of muffled pants and teeth biting into his lower lip, the pain of his nose present all the while from the tug of skin. It hurt like hell, though thankfully it hadn’t bruised. Ray shoved the thought from his mind and stroked himself harder, mind sliding towards the dangerous subject of Joel’s smile, the brown eyes that were framed by a storm of messy hair, fingers that were pale and always itching to practice…

After he cleaned himself off, he went back to sleep and hoped that his libido would hold out, at least until after the painting session. The weekend would do him well to separate him from Joel.

 

 

                “Hey,” Joel called when Ray shut the door behind him. He was already shirtless, smiling brightly. “You didn’t trip over any pencils today, did you?”

                Ray shook his head as he deposited his things at his usual desk and set up the station he would use for work for the next few hours. Even though he trusted that Joel knew absolutely nothing about what he had done that night, a sense of shame coated him all the same. To think that he had thought of Joel, a person he hadn’t known aside from schoolwork, doing such things… It was enough to make a guy go crazy.

                All he could do for now was to try to keep to himself and avoid staring for longer than necessary, a nearly impossible feat to pull off in the circumstances presented. He was painting a nude, for God’s sake.

                “Can you take your pants off?” Ray asked in a rush, fiddling with his paints for longer than necessary for an abused excuse to not meet Joel’s eyes. “Underwear’s fine, though. As a warning, you’ll be naked all next week.”

                Joel’s smile ripened into a smile as he messed with the zipper to his jeans. “I thought you’d never ask…” he purred, pulling down the pants to reveal dark grey boxers that were shaped by certain aspects that Ray had promised himself not to notice until absolutely necessary. “Absolutely necessary” was drawing near, though…  And it wasn’t like Ray was a stranger to Joel’s body, not after painting it for the past week…

                He spared Joel a glance, watching as Joel smiled genuinely, in the way that had no undertones of cockiness of unwritten rules beneath. What he was seeing was a guy who was happy to be here and to be with Ray.

                Ray looked away and started on painting Joel’s legs, trying to focus on shaping the muscles to match the rest of his body even without the missing piece between Joel’s legs and his upper body. He would blend them better when Joel was fully nude.

                The two traded comments like normal, though Ray still felt a rush of guilt whenever his eyes happened to lower to Joel’s underwear. Joel was pretending not to notice and Ray could tell, but he didn’t say so.

                However, the disruption in today’s rhythm happened as Ray was just beginning to put away his paints and set up his painting to dry, satisfied by the day’s work.

                It was when Joel asked, “So, did you like what you saw?” The damned cocky grin was back in all its glory, and for once, it did nothing to smooth over Ray’s nerves. Rather, he felt his guilt rush back at him with full force, nearly making him feel sick. Joel had no idea how much he actually _did_ like what he saw, and Ray had no intention of letting him in on that fact.

                But his response was, “Yeah.” It was a flat “yeah” rather than a true one, but it was enough to get Joel to turn his head and enough to make Ray hurry up with putting his things away and go back to sitting on his desk with his backpack, shoving his own materials back within the backpack’s open maw.

                “Interesting,” Joel murmured, abandoning his clothing on the floor to find Ray and put his hands on Ray’s shoulders. Ray could feel his body burning under Joel’s touch, even if he wasn’t even making contact with his skin. Joel’s hands slid down to Ray’s hands, keeping them pinned to the desk’s smooth top. It was enough to set Ray alight.

                Ray’s eyes were begging for Joel not to do this, because what happened if Ray reacted the way he had in his dream? What would happen then?

                “Please don’t punch me,” was all Joel said before he met Ray’s lips with his own, careful, testing. It was a soft experience that could only be rivaled with the smell of Joel’s cologne from so close and the feel of his hands over Ray’s. He felt Joel’s tongue slide across his bottom lip once, and Joel separated.

                Joel was breathing heavily, looking as though he had run across the room and back instead of shared a mild kiss with a younger boy. But there was still the glow in his half-shut eyes, and Ray suddenly realized how accurate his dream had been in depicting Joel after a kiss.

                “I’m sorry,” Joel whispered after, cheeks dark and seemingly flustered. “I… You were just so tense, and I don’t know, it just seemed like-”

                Ray held a hand up. “It was perfect,” he said shortly. Then, after a moment of shared silence between them, he offered a smile. “You’re hot as hell and kiss like a demon.”

                It was all Joel needed to get back in step. “You haven’t seen anything yet, pretty boy.” His eyes surveyed Ray’s body (even though he was the clothed one in this situation) and he asked, “Was I right about you being a virgin?”

                Cheeks flushing red, Ray mumbled, “Maybe. Yes.”

                He cocked his head to his left in a way that made Ray feel fluttery and slowly asked, “Do you give me permission to change that on Monday?” Joel’s eyes were cautious and hopeful, in a way that let Ray know that he was nearly as new to the idea as he was.

                Ray nearly choked before answering, “Yes. God, yes.”

 

 

                The weekend was a blur of tense thoughts and blurry dreams of moans and warbled words, all that resulted in midnight jack-offs similar to the one Ray had suffered Thursday night. Michael called him to hang out with him and Gavin and a couple other friends, one of which would probably try convincing Ray to drink. Ray declined. All he could focus on at the moment was how good Joel’s skin would feel when he was naked too, and wondering what it would be like to be stretched by a guy who was so tall.

                Nice, he decided. It would feel nice.

                Monday came. His leg wouldn’t stop jiggling throughout any of his classes, resulting in him being sent out into the hall during Spanish and sending the Calculus teacher on a rant. Michael kept giving him side glances in the three classes they shared, all to no avail. Ray wasn’t able to think clearly. He knew now why Joel had been so tickled to find that he was a virgin.

                Ray rushed to the art class faster than he ever had before, the tense combination of nerves and excitement enough to propel him at a speed he was sure he would never reach again, flinging the door open with all his force to find-

                An empty room.

                Feeling stupid or mistaken, Ray shut the door and opened it again. Yes, it was the art classroom. Yes, it was Monday. Yes, Joel was supposed to be here.

                And  no, he wasn’t here.

                Frustration leapt through Ray’s body before he could stop it as he slammed the door shut behind him and sat down on a desk, tossing his backpack aside. Where the absolute fuck was Joel, and why would today, of all days, be the day that he didn’t show? Ray realized with horror that it could be some kind of sick joke between Joel and Michael, something that had been planned from the beginning, and someone would open the door and it wouldn’t be Joel, it would be a crowd of kids Ray didn’t know and some kids he did know, and they would _laugh_ because they knew he had been ditched and he was alone and angry and-

                The door opened cautiously. It was Joel.

                “Sorry, I got a little sidetracked and stayed in the car because of some stupid economic bullshit that our country can’t control…” Joel’s explanation trailed off into silence. “Is something wrong?”

                Ray shook his head quickly, almost making himself dizzy from the force of it. “No, no, I was just thinking about something. You like economics?”

                Raising an eyebrow, Joel asked, “You’re asking me this now? I thought the plan was to fuck.” His hands were nervously tracing along the surfaces of the desks as he drew closer, slowly making his way to Ray’s side. “Unless you changed your mind…”

                Out of all people, Ray wouldn’t expect Joel to be so doubtful about their arrangement. He quickly grabbed Joel by the sweatshirt and yanked him in for a kiss, drawn-out and warm and wet as Ray’s tongue surfed over Joel’s lips the way Joel’s had coasted over Ray’s on Friday. Ray nibbled on Joel’s bottom lip gently, stretching the material of the sweatshirt as he pulled harder. “More contact” was the only thing running through his head in that moment.

                Getting the message, Joel pushed against Ray’s lips with his own tongue and Ray gladly accepted him in, even welcomed him by sucking on his tongue with his parted lips. It wasn’t as much of the crashing of ocean waves or the sound of bursting fireworks that people described as the sensation of kissing; Ray found that a more fitting analogy for how he felt when kissing Joel was a slow burn, careful but ruthless, contained but undeniable.

                Joel’s hands went to Ray’s legs, parting them around his body as Ray leaned back on the desk a bit more, his back supported by the desk’s surface but his head dangling in the space between the desk and its connected chair. Though the position made his neck feel a bit tight and he was sure he wouldn’t be able to look to the right that well later on, it didn’t matter. Was that why they called it the heat of the moment? Ray wasn’t here to argue, especially when he could feel the hardness between Joel’s legs in the best way possible.

                He was pulling Joel so close that he hardly had room between his body and Joel’s, so he removed his hand from Joel’s abused sweatshirt and instead used it to curl around the nape of Joel’s neck.

Much to his approval, Joel let out a breathy sigh in response. “I was planning to tease you at this point,” he said, working the button to Ray’s pants quickly, “You know, right after the kissing… But I really don’t have the heart right now. I want it just as bad as you do.” His eyes met Ray’s, both shades of brown focusing on each other in anticipation. “You do want it, don’t you?”

“Want what?” Ray fired back, though he could already feel himself slipping, his words coming out in half a plea. Even as Joel tugged his pants off, he wanted more. He would have yanked Joel’s pants off himself if he had been in a better position to do so.

Joel pulled his own pants off, noticing the hungry stare Ray was giving him. He even took the liberty to shed his boxers, the clothing falling around his ankles before he stepped out and kicked the garment aside. From the close proximity of earlier, Ray could already speak to say that Joel was very much aroused, but it wasn’t until he took in the full image of Joel’s swollen cock that he knew what it meant to truly want it _badly_.

Noting Ray’s gaze, Joel leaned in to graze Ray’s ear with his teeth, his hands on either side of the desk to pin Ray’s hands down to its cold surface. He whispered, “Want what? My dick in your ass, you sexy fuck.”

Ray could only moan as Joel watched, satisfied by his work. “Yes… Joel, please, I know it’s supposed to take longer but-” he pushed his hips up to rub against Joel’s bare lower half, grinding with his underwear being used as a barrier between them, “I _need_ you, please…”

Nodding, Joel ordered, “Boxers. Off,” and bent over to the side to pick up his discarded jeans, pushing his fingers deep into the pockets until he pulled out the things he wanted to find. Meanwhile, Ray worked shimmying out of his boxers and kicking them to the floor, pushing himself back into the desk to let his head hang back into the empty gap. He watched Joel stand back up fully, a bit disappointed that he hadn’t had much opportunity to stare at Joel’s ass, but found relief when Joel showed off what he had found: a condom and a small tube of lube.

“Now,” Joel said, setting the condom on the desk beside him, “I’m going to lube up a couple of my fingers to loosen you up, no pun intended. It’ll feel a bit strange and a little painful at first, but it isn’t anything to get scared about. Just…” The sensuality of the situation gave way to the expression of genuine concern that Joel was wearing. “Tell me if it hurts, alright?”

“Right.” Ray could do this… Like Joel said, there was nothing to it. Anyways, he trusted Joel to know what he was doing. He was the college boy who had volunteered to be painted nude by a virgin art freak. Ray knew he could count on the fact that Joel had experiences to rely on.

It still didn’t take away the twinge of anxiety that he felt when Joel squeezed lube on two of his fingers, coating them liberally with the slick material. He capped the tube using his teeth and set it down beside the condom. His opposite hand curled around Ray’s right thigh, thumb running gently over the bare skin. “Spread your legs,” Joel murmured.

Ray swallowed as he complied, pulling his legs apart and relaxing them on either side of the desk. His feet dangled in the cool air of the school, and the deviousness of their actions came crashing down on him. Here they were, in a school art class where kids learned on a day-to-day basis and stuck their chewed gum in discolored blobs beneath the desks. Tomorrow, some kid would be sitting in this very desk, the same one that had experienced gay sex. It was enough to make his head spin.

The first finger pushed through.

It was a slow, stinging process, but Ray wasn’t complaining by the time that Joel had his finger fully inside of Ray, squeezed by the rings of muscle that contracted as Ray adjusted himself accordingly. Joel began moving his finger a little, probing the inside of Ray curiously, almost as though there was somewhere that he wanted to-

“F-fuck!” Ray’s hips bucked up uncontrollably, his eyes wide with pleasure. Something deep within him had been stroked, a bundle of nerves prodded in a way he had never experienced prior to then.

Joel grinned and leaned into Ray, pushing his finger a little deeper. He again licked at Ray’s ear, as he had before, and whispered, “That was me brushing your prostate. Feels good, doesn’t it? Like a fucking firecracker just went off and set your nerves alight, burning and fizzing through your bones to your teeth, turning your fucking brain to mush and your senses to fire…” He pulled his finger out completely, circling the outer circle of Ray’s asshole. “Do you want me to do it again?”

Ray was nodding so fast, so hard that it made his neck hurt. “Yes, yes, yes, yes, Joel, please, Joel, please do it, Joel, I need you, I need, I-”The finger was shoved back inside of him, pushing against his prostate with more force. “Joel, fuck! Ah, Joel, ah…” The finger was going in and out, more shallowly with less contact with his prostate than before, but still brushing it nonetheless. True to Joel’s proclamation, it _did_ feel like a firecracker of pleasure had been ignited within him, sending his other thoughts to nothing more than rubble.

And then Joel added the other finger.

There was the sting again, hot and angry like the strike of a stretched rubber band, but then there was nothing but the heat enveloping Ray from that firecracker that Joel was still talking about, murmuring soft words in Ray’s ears that made him all the more compliant to Joel’s wishes as the two fingers went in and out and in and out and in and out… It was a rhythm that Ray would be willing to die to, a dance that he would sacrifice anything to finish.

And Ray knew that he was probably coming too close to the edge right then, what with the burning of his pleasure and the blank looseness of his expression that was only tightened in peaks of ecstasy, and he knew that Joel still had something else to offer. It was difficult to find the words then, the correct phrasing to describe the thought he had fished out of the gutter, but as Joel continue to thrust his fingers into him he moaned, “Joel, please fuck me, please put your, ah, cock, ah, inside me, please, please…” and couldn’t stop talking nonsense, couldn’t stop crying out renditions of Joel’s name and the word “please.”

Joel grinned devilishly, pulling his fingers out of Ray with a wet noise. “Who am I to deny someone so hopelessly sexy as you, Ray?” He snatched the condom off the desk, ripping off its wrapping before rolling it onto his untouched cock. Clearly, he had been waiting for Ray to ask.

But, as Joel’s hand neared the lube, Ray sat upright on the desk. “Can I?” he asked, holding his hand out.

“Of course,” Joel said, passing him the tube. His cheeks were a little red.

Ray squeezed the lube onto his fingers, letting it dribble over and roll onto the other side of his hand. He put the tube down and rubbed his hands together, spreading the thick liquid evenly over his hands. Before Joel could ask what Ray was doing, he took Joel’s cock in hand and pulled on it softly, tugging it towards him.

“Ah, Ray…” Joel moaned, hands going to Ray’s shoulders, the remaining lube on his two fingers meeting Ray’s shirt and dampening it with the liquid. Ray kept slowly moving both hands around Joel’s cock, coating it with deliberate motions that had Joel whimpering almost as much as Ray had with Joel’s fingers inside him. It occurred to him that Joel needed this as much as he did, more than as just a break in the tension. They needed each other. It was heat and passion and something else that resembled love enough to bring Ray’s cheeks to a soft pink. He massaged Joel for a few more moments, then let go. He looked up into Joel’s eyes, Joel letting go of Ray’s shoulders.

“Please?” Ray asked, allowing his voice to waver. “I need you inside of me, Joel, and I know you want it too. Please…”

Joel was nodding, eyes only for Ray. “God _yes_ , Ray… You’re so fucking beautiful, I swear…” He gently pushed on Ray’s chest, Ray leaning back to take position for what they were about to do. His neck muscles ached as he put force on them to keep his head from dangling in the gap, but he didn’t pay it mind. Joel was lining himself up with his hand, the other steadying himself against the desk. Ray felt the head of Joel’s cock pressing deliciously against his asshole, bluntly and oh-so present.

Their eyes met; there was a flash of agreement, and Joel’s hips rolled forward.

                The pace was slow, but deep. The sting was back and nearly worse than before, but Ray just grit his teeth and waited for the violent sensation to pass as Joel pushed in and out of him, pressing forward and never looking back. Ray could now recognize and pinpoint the moment that Joel succeeded in hitting his prostate, because the sting was instantly smothered in the firecracker feeling that was so much stronger and more forceful because instead of Joel’s thin fingers, Ray had a cock inside of him, something that made him feel so full and longing for more that he could almost describe it as an ache.

                The way Joel’s name was coming off Ray’s lips between hitched breaths made it sound like a distant prayer, as if Ray couldn’t even feel Joel there. It reminded him of being alone in his room during those midnight ejaculations over the weekend, with his imagined versions of Joel each attacking him in a new, more exciting way, but all he had to do was feel the warmth of Joel’s sweaty palms pushing his down into the desk to realize that this was real.

                And that knowledge alone was enough to make Ray cry out, “Joel, I’m about to, I’m so close, please, don’t stop, please-”

                “Yes, cum for me, Ray, cum,” Joel moaned back, thrusting harder and faster than before, setting a pace that was nearly too much for Ray but turned out to be just enough. Ray was screaming, voice cracking as he tensed and relaxed into the desk, head lolling back into the empty space in a daze. He was whimpering, Joel still pushing in and out brutally, but he had cum, the white evidence coating his shirt in a splatter, and he was still feeling the spider webs of pleasure stretch beneath his skin. If the sensation of his prostate being stimulated could be compared to a firecracker, then this was an atom bomb. It was steady, slow, and he could feel his own breathing stutter to a stop as the waves rolled over his muscles. He could hear Joel’s own breathing grow uneasy, jagged as broken glass, and he could hear himself murmuring, “Cum, Joel, please…” and Joel’s movements stopped.

                They both remained there for a few more seconds, panting as their relief washed away and reminded them that the room smelled of sex and not like paint, the way it was meant to. Oh well. They still had two days: Tuesday and Thursday.

                Joel pulled out and unrolled the condom, tying it up and tossing it into the trash can beside the door. He waited a second before walking to the sink in the room, grabbing a fistful of crumpled paper towels and placing them strategically in the trash can to hide the evidence of their sinful endeavors. He began pulling on his boxers, and that was when Ray realized that he hadn’t moved and was watching Joel cover up their tracks from an upside-down perspective that was produced by him leaning his head back into the gap between the desk and its chair.

                He sat up, wincing as he felt his neck muscles tighten in protest, then looked down at his soiled shirt. Ray glared at Joel and asked, “How the fuck did you convince me to let you fuck me with my shirt still on?”

                Laughing as he gathered more paper towels and dampened them with water, Joel said, “I was wondering if you’d notice. Well, first of all, my shirt was on too, and second, well, I guess you’d call it a fetish, but…”

                Ray grinned. “I guess I can’t be mad at you for being kinky, can I. After all, we did fuck on some poor jackass’ desk.”

                “Sucks to be them,” Joel agreed, and Ray went to his side to help clean up, even delivering a dopey, sweet post-sex kiss to the side of Joel’s face, feeling as his cheeks wrinkled into smile beneath his lips.

 

 

                It was while Ray was setting up his painting station the following day that he found that God’s will was against him. That or he was destined to fail the extra credit assignment.

                At least, that was what he told himself as he watched the power flicker out overhead, lights humming in an attempt to bring back the electricity that was for some reason not able to keep hold. The power shut off completely, throwing both Ray and a half-clothed Joel (he had just been taking off his shirt for Ray to finally paint the anatomy they had explored on Monday) into complete darkness. For a second, the school’s sparse emergency LED lights kicked in and lit the room in faint white light, but then those shut off too, the velvet of dark rolling over their skin and closing over their faces.

                It was dead silent until Joel asked, “Ray, d’you have a phone on you, by any chance?”

                Cursing himself, Ray said, “Left it home today.”

                Joel sighed, and Ray heard his hands flatten against the wall behind him. “Okay. Okay. That’s alright… It’s storming outside, isn’t it? Lightning probably struck a power line.” Joel sounded a little choked up as he spoke, using the same tone that a claustrophobic person would use when riding in an elevator. “Hey, why didn’t the emergency lights turn on yet?”

                “It’s fine, Joel. I’ll…” Ray didn’t know what he was doing. He was still standing near the sink, in front of his painting that was propped up on his choice aisle. “I’ll come over there. Just keep talking and I’ll try to follow your voice, okay?”

                There was the slight rustle of Joel’s nod, and he said, “Yeah. Alright. C’mon, Ray, I’m right here. I’m here and shirtless, please come fondle me.”

                Ray snickered in spite of himself. “That’s more like it.” His fingertips left the sink counter and he was wading forth into complete darkness, unable to see anything in front of him other than the color black. Joel’s voice seemed to be coming from in front of him, a little to the right. He turned his body towards Joel’s commentary and walked towards the source, fingers connecting with the silk skin of Joel.

Joel breathed heavily under his touch. “Thank God, I was scared for a second.”

“You don’t like the dark?” Ray felt along Joel’s touch until he felt the curve of Joel’s jaw, tracing it to construct the image of Joel standing before him. His skin was warm.

It felt almost like Joel stopped breathing altogether, though the quick motions beneath his skin allowed Ray the comfort of knowing that Joel’s heart was still pumping, even though it was a little faster than normal. After a brief pause, Joel answered, “Whenever I got into trouble as a kid by stealing money out of Mom’s purse or whatever, I’d hide in the coat closet in the hall. She never thought to look there, and the closet had an air vent in the floor in the back left corner. So, if it was freezing in the house, I’d be warm even though I was hidden. Sometimes, I’d bring a book and a flashlight and just read for the hell of it. It was awesome.” Joel finally breathed in, his jaw moving to ease the oxygen down his windpipe. It was different, to feel Joel without seeing him. It was almost as if he were more present, if anything. Joel continued, “But, of course, as shit happens, my mom got pissed at my one day when she found me in the closet. ‘So that’s where you’ve been,’ was what she said, and instead of pulling me out, she slammed the door shut and put a chair in front of it. I started screaming at her and she was screaming back, like I was an animal that needed disciplining. I think she was drunk, because the next thing I knew, she wasn’t yelling back at me and it was quiet and I was almost certain that she’d died, and I was crying… And I woke up in a foreign bed without my mom. She took me to my grandparents’ and didn’t even say bye. I didn’t see her for a week.”

“J-joel…” Ray said, shocked by his words. He never would have taken Joel to be the type that had a tragic past that would force him into a particular future, but here he was, talking about his abusive mother in terms that didn’t mention bruises or burns. Ray was fortunate enough to never suffer anything but love from his parents, and even with the occasional bad experience when his father made him work at his bar, there was nothing to show for it aside from a good upbringing. He couldn’t even begin to imagine an elementary school-aged Joel hiding in a closet from God knew what kind of monster. And all he could say was, “I’m sorry.”

The jaw beneath Ray’s hand shifted into a bitter grin. “I am too… More than she or I will ever know.” Joel’s fingers wrapped around Ray’s hand, pulling it away from his face. “But don’t worry, my story has a happy ending. Like I mentioned, I didn’t see my mom for a few days, but she came back by the end of the week and told me how sorry she was and basically repented her sins to me.” A hollow laugh. “I’m not God. I didn’t understand half of it. I was just glad to have my mom back.”

                Nothing that Ray could say would make Joel’s struggle with the dark any easier, so he followed his gut and put his arms around Joel’s waist, feeling the taller man lean into him. Ray’s fingers traced down Joel’s back, leaving patterns and invisible messages along the blank canvas of skin. As if he were a child, he said, “There was once a boy named Sam.” He drew the face of a child, sweet and simple across Joel’s back. “He liked to eat… Bread and jam.” His fingers made the picture of bread and a smear of jam. “Before math tests, he had to cram.” A failed math test. “To funky tunes, he would jam.” A quarter note.

                Joel whispered, “A bomb…” His fingers pressed into the back of Ray’s shirt. “Bam.”

                “Damn.”

                “Ham.”

                “Abraham.”

                “Jam.”

                “We already said that one.”

                “Whatever, punk.”

                “Funk.”

                “Trunk.”

                They stood there in the dark, rhyming for comfort and tracing quick pictures of each image on each other’s backs. It was almost as though they could see, their warm fingers enough to carry the electric current of sight to comfort. Joel was breathing normally. Ray was feeling better about Joel’s insecurities, even though he was doing as well as he could to continue helping him through the time that they had until the power cut back on, because if there was one thing he was unwilling to do, it was to roam the school halls to try to find the exit in pitch black surroundings that resembled a Silent Hill map.

                Their words were softened in the dark, whispers clouded by the light warmth of their breath. They were close enough to feel each other breathing, the exhales puffing across each other’s cheeks as their fingers kept moving at their backs, still tracing idly. Ray hadn’t realized that they were silent until he heard the brush of fabric as Joel moved closer, his lips meeting Ray’s in a deliberate slowness that was caused by both their inability to see and the sweetness in Joel’s actions. It wasn’t a driven kiss with ferocity or extreme passion behind it; rather, it was a chaste movement that held all their words of comfort in a brush of skin against skin.

                As Ray felt Joel pulling out of the kiss, a flash of blinding white pierced his eyes, causing him to squeeze his eyelids shut. It was painful just to look around, but when Joel laughed and moved away from Ray’s arms, he had to open them. The electricity was back, bright as ever.

                He was surprised to feel himself missing the deprivation of sight for a moment, but it was gone by the time that Joel had pulled his shirt back on. Joel was brushing himself off, basking in the light and taking in his surroundings with wide eyes that didn’t betray his earlier fear. He seemed new to the room, as though he was seeing everything in a new way.

Those dark eyes met Ray’s, wrinkling at the corners from a sheepish smile. “Thanks for… You know.”

Ray grinned back appreciatively. “I’ll be there whenever you need me.”

“Except for tomorrow.”

“What?”

Joel rolled his eyes. “Tomorrow’s a Wednesday. We don’t meet on Wednesdays.” He was pulling on his sweatshirt now, his messy hair coming out of the neck hole even more ruffled than before.

A strange sense of sadness washed over Ray. “I wish we did,” he replied over his shoulder as he walked to his aisle to collect his things that were halfway set-up. When Thursday came, he had a bit to work on, with minor details and smoothing out the junctions between Joel’s skin and corners, but there was plenty of time. The only reason he was sad was for his own selfish purpose of wanting to be around Joel at all times.

                As Joel departed with a cheerful “see you later,” the emptiness he felt grew and expanded from within. The door shut quietly behind Joel, and Ray found himself absentmindedly brushing away a tear. Their time together was so precious, and he only had Thursday left.

                Well, he would be damned if he didn’t finish early enough to at least get in a goodbye make-out session with Joel during their last meet.

 

 

                Wednesday was composed equally of despairing and hopeful thoughts for the next day. Ray was again in the state of mind where he couldn’t think clearly through class, his brain instead projecting moments with Joel that were stuck in his head. Their first kiss. The picture of a house that Joel had drawn carefully across his back. The pain in his neck from leaning back into the space between desk and chair.

                Everything was faced in a daze until he left school to get in Michael’s truck, where he was immediately asked, “So, did Joel fuck you yet or..?”

                Ray adjusted himself in the seat, pulling the door shut and buckling his seatbelt as he kicked his backpack to the floorboard. There was no reason to lie, but it still wasn’t a question he wanted to hear, especially from someone like Michael. “So, did Gavin fuck you yet or..?”

                A nervous laugh. “I asked you first.” The truck’s engine revved angrily, and they were speeding out of the parking lot with dirt kicking up from beneath Michael’s tires.

                “Well,” Ray said carefully, “What makes you think that I would be the one getting fucked?”

                He could feel Michael rolling his eyes, recovering from his brief embarrassment. “Joel isn’t the type to do what he’s told, much less bend over for someone who’s both younger and shorter than he is.”

                Relenting, Ray admitted, “That’s true in more ways than you know.”

                “So, you _did_ do the dirty?” They stopped at an intersection, Michael’s fist punching his radio as the station flickered between static and intelligible music notes. The song’s quality cleared, playing to a familiar tune as Michael groaned, “I really need to get this piece of shit taken care of.”

                “If that’s what you want to call it…”His eyes met Michael’s. “And yes, before you ask, we did it in the art room.”

                Michael grinned sharply and turned back to face the road, punching the gas as soon as the light flashed green. Ray hadn’t realized how bad of a driver Michael was until now. “Kinky. Was it a one-time thing, or are you guys still meeting up after the whole extra credit bullshit is over with?”

                He should have known that Michael was likely to stumble upon the exact problem that he had been mulling over since the previous day. Ray answered, “Not sure.” Not sure at all.

                “But you want to, right?”

                Ray laughed sarcastically. “Of course I do, but that doesn’t mean shit unless I find out from Joel.” He didn’t realize how loud he had gotten until he fell silent, the voice of the radio hardly reaching his ears.

                Michael held his hands up in surrender and apologized, “Sorry for touchin’ on a sore topic. Jesus, don’t bite me.”

                “Shut up.” Ray knew Michael was right and that he was completely overreacting, but the possibility of losing someone like Joel mere days since he had grown comfortable with him was enough to make him feel desperate and, more importantly, irritable. He sighed and said, “No, don’t be sorry, it’s my fault for snapping. I’m just…” It was hard to put the feeling into words. “Weird. I feel weird.”

                Shrugging, Michael replied, “Don’t worry about it, I’m a big enough piece of shit that you shouldn’t have to apologize to me no matter what you do.” He eyed Ray. “Don’t get any ideas, though.”

                “Yeah, yeah,” Ray waved him off. Something was going to happen tomorrow, regardless of whether it was a good or bad thing. He had best be prepared to face anything.

 

 

                “And…” Ray’s eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he dabbed at his painting using the smallest brush he could find. His expression relaxed, fingers unclenching around the implement. “I think we’re done!” They had only been in there for thirty minutes, but Ray had found that he liked the way his painting looked and chose to only blend and add hints of shading. He was a fast worker and knew he would finish early.

                Not that it helped his nerves. Only God knew what Joel would answer with when Ray popped the question of whether he would be interested in having a relationship.

                “Shit, already?” Even as Joel said it, he was standing from his position on the floor, picking up his discarded boxers to pull them up his long pale legs. Ray hardly had trouble looking at Joel naked by this point, as long as he didn’t think of it in a sensual way. Focus was key.

                Ray shrugged. “I’m pretty quick and don’t want to mess shit up right before I turn it in, so, yeah.” He grabbed the brushes in his fist and took them in the sink to wash them, watching the array of colors melt away into a single unit of clear water.

                He heard the zipper of Joel’s jeans being pulled upwards, and the rich rustle of denim on skin. Ray didn’t realize that Joel was directly behind him until he spoke, words soft on in his ears. “I never got to see your painting…”

                For whatever reason, that damnable blush chose now as a window to return. Ray let out a shaky laugh, not turning to face Joel behind him because he knew he wouldn’t escape comment on his apparent embarrassment. “That’s hard to believe, considering how long we’ve been working on it.”

                “So… Can I see it?” Joel asked, hands meeting Ray’s hips on both sides, putting light pressure on his skin as his thumbs moved the hem of Ray’s shirt out of the way for direct contact. Yes, this was a proper sendoff.

                Ray nodded, not trusting his voice not to break. Joel only had to walk back to the desk where Ray worked to see the painting, but he still wasn’t moving. The pads of his thumbs pressed more deeply into Ray’s hips, enough to make indents on his skin.

The water over Ray’s fingers ran cold.

“I guess,” Joel murmured, moving his hands further up into Ray’s shirt, feeling at the light muscle of Ray’s stomach and moving up to his ribcage, directly beneath his pectoral muscles, “I asked the wrong question. I mean, I care about the painting, but,” his voice got a little huskier, “what I really want to do right now is _reward_ you for your hard work.”

He couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Reward?” even though his voice cracked in the middle. Joel’s hands moved up to his nipples, fingers lightly tweaking at the sensitive nubs.

Joel’s grin was as devilish as ever, and Ray didn’t have to look behind him to know it. “Turn off the water and drop the brushes.”

Ray did as commanded, not even caring to put the brushes back in their standard drawers. He dropped the art tools on the counter quickly, wiping his hands off on his shirt to dry them and feeling Joel’s hands roaming beneath his shirt as he did so, only the cotton separating them. His pulse was already quickening as he shut off the faucet, the room falling silent from a lack of white noise.

“Now,” Joel said, “turn around for me, will you?”

Nodding again, Ray slowly turned to face Joel, who had the look of a predator in his eye, rounded out by his swollen pupils. Ray’s blush deepened, hands going to the counter behind him for support as his knees took on the form of jelly. Whatever Joel had in mind was clearly going to be interesting for both parties.

He had to hold in a gasp as Joel got down on his knees, eye level with Ray’s midsection. He immediately peeled back the hem of Ray’s shirt and gave his stomach a long, teasing lick from the very edge of his waistband up to his belly button. Joel looked up at Ray with a smirk. “Pants off, please.”

Stumbling out of his pants, Ray through them against the wall at the opposite end of the room to get them as far out of sight as possible. His fingers hooked around the elastic of his boxers to pull them down too, but Joel smacked his hands away. “I said pants, not boxers.” He pushed Ray’s hips with sudden force that had Ray pressed flush against the counter behind him, leaning his full weight back against it.

It came as a surprise when Ray found himself adoring the roughness of Joel’s motions. Well, he supposed that when it came to Joel, he could make just about anything appealing, even masochism. His thoughts were interrupted by a light pressure against the bulge in his boxers. When his eyes met Joel’s to find that Joel was kissing at the front of his boxers, his grip tightened on the counter behind him. This was it. He was going to die of arousal.

Calmly, Joel leaned away from Ray shared one last stare before bringing his hands to the waistband of Ray’s boxers. Ray tried to slow down his breathing, but it was still coming out as pants, desperate in a way that he had never felt before meeting Joel. The cloth of his undergarments was enough to make him groan as it rubbed against his dick on the way down, and it was then that he realized how hard he had gotten in such a short amount of time.

The cloth pooling at Ray’s feet, Joel asked, “Try not to buck, alright? There’s only so much of you that I can take.”

“Y… Yeah.” Ray swallowed thickly as Joel pulled himself to Ray’s cock, giving it a hungry look. Ray felt Joel’s hands clench around his hips, fingers pressing eagerly into the soft flesh of his ass cheeks. Then, Joel licked at Ray.

It was enough to make him stop breathing altogether. Another lick. Joel was just testing the waters, but Ray could feel himself coming apart at the seams. This was what everyone talked about so highly. This was what boys wanted from girls and what boys wanted from other boys. A new sensation was overtaking him, one lick at a time. The smoothness of Joel’s tongue curling around him and the wetness of his saliva combined were forcing Ray to grip tighter to the counter, his legs unsteady.

Joel opened his mouth and eased over Ray’s cock, getting about halfway when he had to stop and take a breath. The warmth of Joel was all around Ray, enveloping him in flesh and wetness like no other. Then Joel pushed forward a little further, inching his way until the tip of his nose met Ray’s skin. Joel’s fingers squeezed Ray’s ass. Joel swallowed.

Waves of pleasure radiated from Ray’s swallowed cock, making him moan out lowly. Joel pulled back to the point where only the head of Ray’s cock was between his lips and inched back inwards, though this time he moved faster, taking Ray in with the manner of a man without a gag reflex. The thought of Joel being a sword swallower crossed Ray’s mind, but he was pulled back into reality when Joel repeated the process even faster, swiftly taking Ray in and out, in and out.

He was like a machine, bobbing quickly and swallowing every so often. Ray’s world was exploding around him, and suddenly he didn’t care if his knees were weak, he just needed to feel Joel more, more, more. Both of his hands went to Joel’s tangle of hair and weaved through it, tugging it gently before using it to guide Joel towards him faster.  Joel was pressing bruises into Ray’s ass, and he didn’t care, it felt like a dream, it was so fucking good that it made him whimper.

Ray didn’t notice that he was bucking shallowly into Joel’s throat until he heard Joel gag, wet sounds coming out around his cock and meeting his ears in a way that made Ray hiss, “Joel, please, _yes,_ you’re so fucking good, oh, please…”

Joel’s eyes were squeezed shut now, pushing forward like a machine that only had the objective of pleasuring Ray. Ray’s fingers were digging into Joel’s scalp, and he was bucking, trying to restrain himself for the sake of Joel, but he couldn’t hold it back, and he barely got out, “J-Joel, I’m gonna…” before his eyes slammed shut to the vision of Joel’s pink lips wrapped around his hard cock, cumming into Joel’s mouth as he moaned. He slumped back against the counter and his hands let go of Joel’s hair to steady himself, mouth open around Joel’s name.

He felt Joel’s lips slide off his cock, alerting Ray to open his eyes and stand up straight. Joel stood before him, a dribble of cum running out of the corner of his mouth.

“God,” Ray panted, “You’re fucking amazing.”

Smiling, Joel absentmindedly licked at his lip, the sliver of cum disappearing with his tongue. “I hope so. Just like I asked you not to, you bucked and made me gag.”

Ray was blushing as he tugged his boxers back up his legs and into place, followed by his pants. “Sorry… It was like I couldn’t stop,” he apologized, stand upright once more.

“Well,” Joel said slowly, “I think I actually kind of liked it, so… All’s well.”

“You liked choking on my dick?” Ray asked playfully.

Joel muttered, “Shut up,” as his cheeks flashed pink. Ray was satisfied to see that he could still make Joel blush like he had a few days ago… Or had that been last week? Who knew.

And then, the question that had been itching at the back of his brain for the past day returned, and Ray’s joking expression disappeared. There were important things that he had needed to ask, so instead he had choked Joel on his cock. He could be a real fucking idiot in situations like this.

He watched Joel brush himself off, rubbing his sore knees and ruffling his hair back into its ordinary state of chaos. How could he think that a guy so amazingly unique would ever want to be with him? How did he know that he wasn’t being paid or something to hang out with him? Maybe Ray was his only sexual relief, though he found it hard to believe that _he_ of all people would need sexual relief. Joel was more attractive than he knew. And yet, the urge to ask for something lasting was burning at his throat, a fire that had only grown with the time they spent together.

Well, there was no time like the present. After taking a deep breath, Ray asked, “So… Is this a, um, one-time thing, or…”

Joel looked at Ray. “Or?

“Or… Can we, you know, be together?” Ray finished. His face was beet red, and the raised eyebrow that Joel was giving him wasn’t helping matters.

“Um…” Joel said. He squinted at Ray and asked, “What the fuck else would we be?”

Ray’s eyes widened. “What?”

“What do you think I’d do, just dump your ass on the street after the project? Who the fuck do you think I am, just some guy who fucks whoever’s willing?!” Joel was getting increasingly louder, his hands twitching at his sides, his expression incredulous. He backed up into a desk, then lifted a leg to stand on top of the desk, becoming the highest object in the room. “Ray, what the fuck do you mean, ‘can we be together?’ Of fucking course, you motherfucker!” He was gesturing around the room as though he were giving a performance, though Ray could tell that there was truth behind his words. “You’re special. Special as hell!” Joel breathed deeply, seeming to notice that he was standing on a desk. He jumped down. “And I refuse to lose that.”

Sheepishly, Ray grinned. “Alright. Thanks. Don’t be so dramatic, though.” He took Joel’s hands in his. “You’re special too.” He leaned forward, and Joel leaned in too, and they were kissing, in a soft manner that didn’t call for flare. It was over in a second, and Ray immediately asked, “Did I just get my own semen in my mouth?”

Joel cocked his head. “Is that a bad thing?”

“Nah,” Ray said, “I think it’s pretty cool, actually. It’s like I sucked my own dick, except I obviously didn’t.” He didn’t know where the hell that came from, but now that he thought about it, his lips did taste a little salty…

“What the absolute fuck is wrong with you kids these days?” Joel asked, holding in a laugh between his sealed lips.

“Shut the fuck up, College Boy. You let a high school kid paint you nude. Learn about what you’re signing up for before you do it.” Ray wondered if Michael had warned Joel about anything like this happening. Obviously, none of them had intended for Joel and Ray to fall in love. What a miraculous mistake indeed.

Joel grinned. “You know what? I have zero regrets for not thinking much about what I signed up for.” He took Ray’s hands in his, rubbing his thumbs over the tops of Ray’s hands in patters that had them both reminiscing in the power outage.

After standing up on his tippy-toes and delivering a small kiss to the side of Joel’s face, Ray met the ground flat-footed once more and said, “Good. Let’s leave it at that.”


End file.
